Amber Fossil Authenticity Card

Your purchase will come with a certificate of authenticity from 'Amanda Bass Designs' store which will state that your product is made with authentic and high quality materials and it is genuine. We also guarantee that our jewelry is handcrafted.

Unique Handcrafting and Polishing

Amanda Bass artisans are unique just as their art is. Our amber fossil design are handcrafted by Lithuanian, Estonian and Polish artisans and we hand pick every fossil design carefully with you in mind! The amber fossil jewelry design art is passed on from a generation to the next generation and certain artwork can be undertaken and completed only by such artisans or artisan families. The designs are produced painstakingly and sometimes the rough marks seen around the edges are the sign of handcrafting that makes it unique. We know how it works and make sure that enough of such exquisite designs are in stock for you.

Authentic Baltic and Caribbean Amber

Since the ancient times, the word amber meant only one thing - the Baltic Amber! However, the process of how amber is formed traced more amber varieties in different parts of the world. Although more than 125 types of fossil resins are known in the world, these resins are not amber but its relatives. They are mostly found in Europe and America and each of them has its own name. But the Baltic amber is uniquely known for its quality and is most sought after. We carry authentic Baltic amber fossil designs with pre-historic insects and other natural inclusions.

Beware of fake Amber in the Market

It is important to get to know amber well if you are seeking one or better yet, depend on a source that is authentic and reliable. In the middle of the 19th century, scientists discovered ways to synthesize natural precious substances. There are many imitations of amber, some natural and many synthetic. The natural imitations, known as copal resin, are very closely related to amber. They are also from fossilized pine resin, but from different varieties of pine trees, and also less ancient. A variety from New Zealand is known as kauri gum, and is the product of the kauri pine (agathis australis). Check out the source your buying from, verify what purchase guarantees you will receive and what the refund policies are before you buy amber fossil from anywhere.

Materials that are often passed on as real amber to buyers are copal, celluloid, phenolic resins, casein, glass and modern plastic. Copal comes close to amber because chemically it is close. Copal is actually very young tree resin and contains succinic acid, or succinite. Resin flows like syrup and has a distinct piney, sweet smell. The piney, sweet smell is due to chemicals in the substance known as terpenes. Immature amber or copal is a substance in which all the volatile terpenes have not yet left the resin. Copal imitation is generally used to imitate amber inclusions by inserting insects into them.

Do you know that some Chinese products such as glass or plastic paperweights, necklaces, rings and other products are also sold as amber fossil? They often buy organisms such as tarantula, spider, scorpion and other exotic animals from Vietnamese, Cambodian and Chinese farmers often when they are alive, put them in glass and plastic products and sell the products to you as amber fossil. What they often do not explain is that it is not amber, not real amber, and it is not fossilized organism.